##VIDEO ID:icCNKWGuwEc## I e like to get started uh notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Board of Education of the town of Westfield in the county of Union New Jersey at 700 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday September 17th 2024 in cafeteria B of Westfield High School 550 Dorian Road Westfield New Jersey the purpose of the meeting is to transact the regular business of the board and to transact any other business to come properly before the board this is to advise the general public and to instruct that it be recorded in the minutes that in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 entitled the open public meetings act the Westfield school board on Tuesday on Thursday September 12th 2024 caus to be posted at the office of the Board of Education located at 302 Elm Street Westfield New Jersey and delivered to the Westfield leader The Star Ledger the Westfield Library Town Clerk of Westfield tap into Westfield and patch.com a meeting notice setting forth the time date and location of this meeting Patty we have a roll call please rob bonio here Kent Diamond here Brendan gallagan here Charles jinus here Leila melli here sonal Patel here Kristen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg here Mary wickens right we'll open with a flag salute and we'll let our uh our student rep lead please next move to some uh announcements we'll start with Kent thank you rob save the date for on Tuesday October 8th as the district's K through2 director of counseling faen Bas bason and members of her team lead an informative and important session to help parents understand the harassment intimidation and bullying hiip process this session is for parents and guardians of students in grades prek through 12 and will be held in the Wilson Elementary School library from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and next as we mentioned at the last board meeting we enjoy recognizing and raising awareness of the many traditions of our diverse School Community currently it is National Hispanic Heritage Month which runs from September 15th through October 15th and celebrates the invaluable contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to our Nations and to our Westfield Community thank you y I have two as well the first the PTC special education committee is hosting a fall parent social on Wednesday October 16th beginning at 7: p.m. for parents in the special education Community location to be announced soon the second one the Westfield Police Athletic League is holding an upcoming flag football mini camp for children with special needs ages 5 to 14 the mini camp will provide one-on-one instruction while moving through the stations focused on passing catching rushing and defense defense while also allowing the children to enjoy time with their friends neighbors and classmates games will be played for participants who are game ready for the last 20 minutes of the C of the camp no prior knowledge or football experience is necessary the mini camp sessions will be held on Saturdays October 19th October 26th and November 2nd from 1:15 to 2: p.m. at tamaka Park register for this free program at Westfield pal.org CJ project playground which was established in December 2022 has now raised more than $400,000 for accessible playground updates at Lincoln Franklin and Jefferson Schools we are grateful to the generous businesses school PTO and Community organizations who have donated to this worthy effort most recently the Westfield Foundation provided $220,000 towards the Franklin project playground effort accessible surfacing and eight pieces of accessible playground equipment are due to be installed at Franklin during this school year and while the Franklin project ground has reached approximately 90% of its Target fundraising goal it continues to raise money to support the installation of a student design mural in partnership with Westfield High School students please reach out to Erica wit 24@gmail.com to learn more Julie the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs is sharing information about the New Jersey lead remediation and abatement program key aspects of this state program include free Le INSP inspection and Remediation services to be eligible for the program a property must have been built before 1978 and free from structural issues and the household gross income must not exceed 80% of the area's median income the program is open to both tenants and landlords provided the occupants meet the income eligibility requirements anyone interested in applying should visit the program's website at lat. newjersey.gov email um l r a dc. nj.gov with any questions Lea there are many ways to support our students thanks to our generous Community Partners please visit the community Flyers page on the district and school websites where you will find information about the PTC scholarship fund the PTC special education Katherine Cuthbertson Achievement Award the Westfield education fund the Westfield Coalition for the Arts the Westfield High School Helping Hands fund and other charitable initiatives many upcoming events by nonprofit Community organizations are posted on the community Flyers page as well SEL this is a reminder that schools will be closed on Thursday October 3rd and Friday October 4th in observance of rashash Shana schools also will be closed on Monday October 14th for a staff professional development day you got the popular one um the next regular public meeting of the Board of Education will be on Tuesday October 15th in cafeteria B at Westfield High School beginning at 7 p.m. the meeting will be live streamed via the district YouTube channel which viewers can access on the board tab on the district website the complete agenda will be available on Friday October 11th uh before I turn things over to Dr Gonzalez for the District administration report I want to take a moment to welcome our student representative uh James fur to the board um one of the better things that the state legislature has done over the last couple of years is created a seat for students uh from the district as part of uh as part of the boards of Education uh James is the vice president of communications I think of the uh see I told you I get that right um of the student government I want to thank you for for volunteering for serving uh and for spending your your Tuesdays with us James will be giving a report after Dr Gonzalez uh but I want to formally welcome you to the board so this evening I uh I have a few remarks and then I will be handing over the uh presentation responsibilities to colleagues so uh I will get started uh simply by saying welcome and happy new school year uh the excitement and energy during the opening of school have been palpable across the district last week our first full week of school we engage the community Through various events including the referendum Community advisory committee and the special education department and intermediate schools back to school nights and this week we look forward to the elementary schools back to school nights in the classrooms as we Implement our new curriculum and assessment initiatives we are eager to see the positive impact on teaching and learning throughout the year and more updates will be shared during future board meetings principal eblas and the district newsletter tonight for my superintendent report I would like to provide information regarding the mandated grad uation Pathways report and the mandated students uh safety data system report as required by New Jersey Administrative Code 68- 5.2 F the graduation Pathways report provides an overview of how students met New Jersey's graduation requirements including the various Pathways used to fulfill the ELA English language arts and math requirements for the 2023 2024 school year 463 students graduated in June with one additional student completing summer school of these 15 English language arts and 26 math students met their requirements via IEP accommodations while two English language arts and 11 math students uh utilized portfolio peels to satisfy the graduation requirements the full report is available in tonight's notes for the record now moving on to the student safety data system report the mandated ssds report covering the period from January through June 2024 also listed as an attachment in the notes for the record includes incidents related to violence vandalism weapons substance abuse and confirmed HIV cases it also tracks incidents that resulted in students removal from class the use of restraint or seclusion and anti-bullying trainings the detailed summary that's attached to the agenda helps us review assess and improve Pro safety and anti-bullying efforts lastly I'm pleased to introduce the two presentations tonight first Fallon bisone our director of School counseling will provide an overview of the district's counseling program following that Patty Ramos our business administrator and Mike Barry and his colleagues from FKA Architects are here and we will present the final facilities project proposals under consideration for the upcoming referendum both of these presentations highlight how the goals and objectives of our strategic plan are coming to life in our school district and moving us forward this time I'd like to invite Fallon balison to the podium for her presentation good evening everyone and thank you for having me glad to be here to talk about our counseling program and services here in the Westfield Public Schools so our philosophy for our program and services here is detailed up on this slide but it's actually pretty simple it's to support our students both emotionally and academically and most importantly to be there when those two things converge I think we've all witnessed students being impacted by their emotions when it comes to school and vice versa their academics being impacted by emotions so I think that moment where they come together can be one that's difficult it can be one that's very revealing and it's also one that is full of potential uh that's where the school counselors come in we want to take advantage of that moment um and use that to help our students build character to build those values that they want to grow throughout their time in our district of Integrity responsibility kindness and that's what our program is all about it's a pretty Monumental task it sounds like a lot but we do it through a tier multi-tiered system of support just like you hear about with instruction we also have a multi-tiered system of support for counseling services so to start with tier one these are our services that meet all of our students that serve everybody we do this mainly through programming schoolwide programming on all levels prek through 12 it looks a little bit different depending on the grade level but it happens in every single School building we talk about social emotional Wellness as the students get a little bit older we start talking about drug and alcohol misuse and of course College and Career Readiness all through our programming we have some examples up here of what you'll see at each level I personally am really excited about the Thursday table talks program at the high school that we piloted last year and are continuing to grow this year uh on Thursdays we have our counselors set up at a table outside the cafeteria and Student Center during all lunch periods delivering some sort of program sometimes it's thetic based on it being the week of respect or Red Ribbon Week or anything like that and sometimes it's just a stress reliever activity or something a little fun for the students to come engage in and you'll see something similar to that at the intermediate schools as well our Student Assistance counselors get out in the cafeteras there a lot set up a table and they do a program that's open to all of our students of course we also have evening programming where parents and Guardians are invited and I'll be talking a little bit about that tonight and highlighting that our tier 2 services are counseling so these are the services that meet most of our students whether they're in a social skills group at the lower levels or in group counseling at the secondary levels for example we ran some groups last year for all students who were new to the district so they could meet each other get acclimated um and we've run grief groups divorce groups things like that and then of course our students who are in need of short-term individual solution focused counseling so those are our tier 2 services which have been bolstered by the addition of our Student Assistance counselors we've been able to do a lot more of this and then of course we have our tier three services which are for a few students a smaller percentage of students and this is a lot of our crisis response and referral so the counselors do spend a good amount of time on our list of examples down at the bottom in terms of teams that we consult with that we serve on and referrals that we make uh we do a lot of work with families and other teams around the district to make sure that we're responding and preventing crises and also referring appropriately when a student has not found success with tier one and tier 2 services so we spend a good amount of time with harassment intimidation and bullying investigations and Remediation um serving on inrs and 504 teams and implementing those plans Consulting with child study and behavioral threat and more all of these tiers have been developed last year and now moving on to this year with the addition of the Student Assistance counselors at the intermediate in high school it's been so amazing I I can't even say it enough um where we had no programming we now have a full complete program that I think goes above and beyond what you'll see at other schools we're really proud of it I think the work has been really creative and original uh you know we're not just going by textbook ideas we're trying to figure out what the needs are and our specific schools and respond to them we're using student feedback to plan our programs and the Student Assistance counselors at the secondary levels are really the ones that are spearheading this and executing it um and it's been a huge success we've gotten lots of great feedback about it so thankful to the community of course for allowing us to have these positions um and to be able to continue with them and build the program uh we look forward this year to kind of taking it to the next level as well and using our Student Assistance counselors both for program pring and that tier 2 and tier three counseling thanks to maram again we have these lovely infographics of what our programming looks like at each level in the district so for our prek through five students what our counselors there focus on are being consistent in terms of the topics they cover so as a group we have determined that these areas you see on the infographic um such as responsibility gratitude perseverance kindness these are the areas that are covered in every single School building we use a program called character strong it's an Seal program that helps deliver lessons in the classroom um to cover these in a consistent way that was a big step forward we took last year at that level uh we still have some work to go in terms of consistency but our elementary school counselors also do a lot of response to need so a teacher might call them up and say oh there's this conflict going on in my classroom for the past two weeks and you comeing and do a lesson on it so while we do have these um consistent programs throughout the district you'll also see a lot of additional work happening that's school specific based on the need we've been able to plan this whole program at the intermediate level just because of the addition of the Student Assistance counselors there were a couple really great programs that existed before that the school counselors run but now we have a whole additional program that we're really proud of that we rolled out last year that continuing this year and building upon um and it is consistent across the two intermediate schools our two Student Assistance counselors work together to plan this program and to deliver it at around the same time in each building so each month there's certain activities that they're both committed to doing at each building um and you can see here that they have Wellness fairs uh they have little popup stations for some of the themes like gratitude and body positivity mindful Mondays has been a really fun thing that the students have been loving uh so we're really excited to build on this um the foundation we created last year and then we have the high school programming uh we are a little bit more structured at the high school with our program we have a pre-established calendar with specific dates of when we're doing what so it looks a little bit different at the high school um and I know this looks like a lot and it is so this is a mixture of our daytime programming that's just for students that happens in the school building and also our evening program where parents and Guardians are invited to come as well uh it's on our website it's it's everywhere that you can find it and it shows not only the Thursday table talks that are planned but some other programs that we have throughout the year and also our evening programs so you'll see that um on our website and when you see this infographic around on the district Pages the evening programs are highlighted to kind of show you which those are but I do have them called out on the next slide so we'll be able to look at them there as well um we want to do a really big shout out to our first ever districtwide evening program for parents or Guardians that's counseling related uh we're pretty excited to have a hibb and formation night on Tuesday October 8th in the Wilson Elementary School library parents prek through 12 are all invited so we're really happy to start rolling out that districtwide programming that we haven't really seen before um and this is about a really important topic that is touching more students than you can imagine um and if it hasn't touched your student it may soon so it's really important to come on out and learn about the Hib law in the state of New Jersey how it works and what it could mean for your child if they end up involved um so we hope that you'll come on out and join us in this conversation about harassment intimidation and bullying in our district here's some of the other evening programming that we just wanted to pull out from that infographic I wanted to shout out a few upcoming things I'm really excited tomorrow night we have College and Career Finish Line which is for grade 12 families parents and Guardians we encourage you to bring your seniors with you uh this has historically been called senior parent night uh but we have reimagined it this year and we really hope you'll come out and see what's in store uh for both our students and parents we thought it was important for families to hear the message together and not separately um so we are taking a Westfield specific lens on this night um we're going to talk about what this process of College and Career means for your child here in Westfield the implications of that um we're going to try to give greater perspective on how to get through this year as a family um both as a student and a parent it's a roller coaster of a year so we're going to try to help G give you some perspective there and maybe give you some talking points to continue on at home as a family so again it's reimagined it's refreshed if you have an older child and you've been to senior parent night before please come for this cuz it's different um and we promise it's going to be helpful and useful and we have myself and two school counselors from the high school presenting Jamie Glickman who is truly expert in the college admissions process and Rebecca leis who happens to be a mom of twins that she just sent off to college so she has a really unique perspective on going through the senior year both from the school counselor hat and the parent hat I love hearing her talk about it so she you know was happy to come and and share her thoughts at this night so uh please come on out now obviously on the 8th of October we have the Hib night and then you'll see that on October 17th we have something called College and Career jump start now this is the reimagined junior parent night so that's what it used to be called but I really thought that this topic was not just for junior parents um I really think that any student and parent of a high school child could benefit from coming out and just starting that conversation about thinking about life After High School so again another reimagined event if you've gone before for your older child please come to this again because it's going to be different um we're pretty excited about it and then of course on October 22nd we have our college career military and GAP year Fair our second annual last year we brought this back from having it go away during Co so we're really excited for our second year of this fair and again this is open to the community so feel free to bring friends family from anywhere or invite them to come on their own there's many other nights on here I won't go through them all um but I implore you to make sure that you're coming out to our events we send out lots of reminders about them as they're coming up um and we're really happy to take feedback about them as well so that we can continue to improve them year after year some exciting things going on with the counseling program um in addition to that districtwide evening programming that I mentioned uh I also had discussed before that our elementary and middle schools use a program called character strong for their character lessons and character strong just received a castle select designation Castle is a governing organization of SE programs um and this designation means that character strong is evidence-based effective and has outcomes that are measurable so we were pretty excited that it received that designation because we've been enjoying using the program um we have increased College and Career programming for example we're taking a field trip this year of students to an HBCU Fair historically back college and university Fair um we are bringing back our College ad Mission reps to visit the high school which is starting tomorrow we have a full calendar booked of them coming um we are going to be bringing the traditional if I knew when evening events which were the panels with alumni and seniors for the underclassman we're actually bringing them into the school day uh so that this way all students can benefit from the program because we thought these panels were pretty helpful uh and insightful and felt pretty bad for the students who weren't there all these other years so we're excited that we had the chance to build it into the day this year so looking forward to that as well and we have very little career programming at the high school so we're excited to start building that this year we're going to take a little step towards a real robust career program uh we have a new program at the high school called the counseling ambassadors our student Volunteers started this week it's upper classmen who are coming during their free period to volunteer in the Counseling Center um they're going going to help us welcome new students give tours check in on new students go check on them at lunch be a buddy to them um they're also just going to help us with all the operations we have going on in our busy office so while the admission reps are coming in and out all day they're going to be there to greet them walk them to their location get them set up sit with them you know everything like that and much much more um also they're going to be volunteering at our evening program so now you will not get shut out if you come at 6:30 the door will not be locked and you won't have to bang on it and ring the doorbell we'll have a student there to open the door and let you in so um we're pretty excited about that student representation at our evening programs to kind of help support our message um we do have plans to begin a first generation college student program uh so we're going to kick this off by having a field trip to a local college and learning more about their eof program which is a program that targets first generation college students and gives them some additional support in college so we're super excited about that and thankful to work with the World Language department on that um we are going to continue our work with Ruckers University and the comprehensive School Mah Health System Grant last year was our first year working with Ruckers and it was mostly an information seeking year so we had our liaison visit us several times we went to many trainings and they were mostly just trying to collect information about our school what we do and do not have this is the second year where we're going to start diving into action items so we will keep you updated as any action items arise I will tell you that one of those action items was better communication which is why I'm here um so the liaison seemed to think that we had a really robust program and that we were doing a really great job but that people didn't know about it so that's one of our big goals for this year is to make sure people know about all the work that we're doing and all the services that are available to your student lastly uh we're still trying to build our Blue Devil Community Network you may have heard of this um it's an initiative that we have where we are trying to get adults who are connected to Westfield in some way whether it's a whhs Alum they work in town maybe you're a parent of a student live in town whatever it is to join this network of people who are willing to speak to our high school students about their college Andor career experience this way if a student comes down and they're asking us about a college or something that we're not too familiar with we can look on the database and see if there's any community members who wouldn't mind getting a call from us um to talk a little bit about their experience in that area um we're also hoping to use this network to build our career programming so we're giving it another big boost of recruitment uh this fall and we're hoping to get people to sign up I do thank the people who have signed up already we are very grateful for you we are looking to build up the network a little bit more um before we start using it and we're definitely looking to have a diverse network of people uh you know we want some people who maybe didn't take a traditional route and are still successful that's what we're looking for um so please if you know anyone or willing to sign up this flyer has the link that you can just click on to fill out the form it's on the whhs counseling website and that's it for my program thank you so much any uh questions from board members we'll just work our whole way we'll just work right around we'll start with CJ uh first I wanted to thank you that was a really great uh presentation I I learned a lot here and I I uh I I love seeing all the different tiers and the the different programs you have I just have one quick question um on your tier 2 counseling page uh you mentioned that you're obligated by law and ethical standards to report and refer a case when a person's welfare is in Jeopardy could you just expound a little bit upon what welfare in Jeopardy means sure so if we have any suspicion that a child is either being abused or neglected or under the influence of drugs or alcohol if there's any if we are under any suspicion that there could be harm to a child then we're obligated to make that report I don't know if that answers your question okay thank you rob um first of all I want to Echo um thank you not only for a great presentation but for all the great work you and the department have done especially since you've taken over I see it as a board member and I saw it as I see it as a parent and I just want to say thank you it's it is seen and um appreciated thank you um I have can I is that okay is that better sorry for that dissonance um I have two questions for you um the first I'm trying to understand I really like the tier I I didn't know about MTS applying and counseling and I I'm trying to also understand um percentages of time and effort and whether or not that's increased and decreased in certain areas so right now it's mt1 that gets the broadest group of people mt2 medium and mt3 is a smaller and I'm wondering in terms of the percentage of time and effort and at different levels like is it different you know this could be the answered in terms of Elementary versus intermediate versus high school um I'm wondering this is my first question eventually is is there um has there been a shift in the amount of effort for these different tiers over the time even though you've only been here for a few years I I I would imagine you've seen some things and I'd love hear your perspective and I guess what I want to understand is do you feel that um that it's tant amount to the amount of Staffing that you have to be able to accommodate any of those shifts over time but in the entire world uh school counselors probably saw a shift in their time since covid going more towards the tier year three lots of crisis response um and lots of high needs needing consultation and referral um so we've definitely seen that here as well and and probably everywhere um so I think that's why it was so important that we added the additional counselors the other year because um anyone who's maybe been in the district for a while can probably vouch to the fact that there wasn't a lot of that schoolwide programming um you know services that met the needs of all the students happening because the counselors were so tied up with the tier three and the crisis response so I think now we're now we're back to balancing out since we do have that additional Staffing of course we could always use more but I do think we're uh on the right path at least to being able to balance out the tiers and make sure we're also giving enough time and energy to tier one and even tier two because tier three still you know we have all these great plans in one day and then suddenly there's a crisis and that counselor's tied up so yeah that's what I'm wondering if it's like an 8020 thing where 80% of the resources are being um kind of put to 20% of the the people through tier three interventions and I'm just wondering if that's directionally correct I I know you don't have exact numbers it's hard it's truly hard to say every day is completely different in the life of a school counselor um there are some days where we're able to keep our schedule just as planned we do all our senior meetings we get out there to Thursday table talk there's another day where suddenly we're in our office dealing with a crisis all day and we have to ask other counselors to cover for us with whatever else we had planned so um I think it's hard to answer because it's it varies by counselor day student I mean there's some students who can be in crisis one day but then the rest of the year are not so it's it's kind of hard to answer the question but um yeah a lot of our time is taken up with tier three in crisis response and consultation and referral a lot okay and then um my second um question it's it's th a question I just um I wanted to say that it's great that we're doing all of these College counseling events and um I will be there at them and look forward to to learning more um I just want to mention that on November 14th at 7 p.m. sped is having a round table for special education search for college um I know that that's separate from what you guys do and you know it's something that it's programming that we're providing I hope that down the road it's something that that the counseling department would consider provid and I I really hope you guys can be there because I think you would add a tremendous amount of value maybe I don't know do we still give CLC credits for attendance Dr Weissman no CLC credits are they available if if people attend round tables not for that okay we don't need credits to come okay okay well thank you again yes all right I I have just one question so more a the question I what the question I get from a lot of parents is that you know the school day especially for you know for upper classman is packed in a lot of people spend a lot of time back and forth between classes and a lot of parents ask me what when do you know how easy is it for students to get a hold of their counselors you know sort of what's the process for for coming in so if you wouldn't mind just expanding on that like you are you able to drop in utilization of free periods that sort of thing I think would help students kind of plan their day a little bit definitely so we have an open door policy which means at any any time any student can come on down will their counselor be available we don't know so um the way it works is that we are on a pretty strict calendar at the high school so starting right now through teachers convention Thanksgiving is um the counselors are booked back toback with senior meetings so they are spending a lot of their energy making sure the seniors are doing what they need to do to plan for Life After High School um and then we move into freshman meetings so then we make sure that the counselors are checking in on the freshmen before the holidays so as you can imagine that's a short amount of time to see a lot of students so they're pretty much booked back to back then we get back from winter break and they start Junior post-secondary planning meetings which are long hourlong meetings where the parents and Guardians are invited in with their child um so it's a big deal the parents have taken off work and taken a vacation day to come to this meeting so it's hard the counselors are really stuck on a schedule with that they cannot be flexible when parents have taken off work to be there so we're pretty much booked back to back then leading up to scheduling in March where we meet with every single student and Have a scheduling meeting with them for the next year other than seniors um and then we do the sophomore meetings after that so as you can see the counselors are often in prescheduled meetings to make sure that they meet with every single student and give them the time they need so there is a chance that if you come down to the counseling center and ask for your counselor they're going to be in a meeting and they won't be able to see you what our secretaries who are wonderful will tell you at the front is that either they can leave a note for the counselor saying they were there can you call call me down when you can and the counselor will absolutely call them down that same day or they'll say if you're more comfortable if you don't want to be called down shoot your counselor an email and schedule an appointment and the counselor will absolutely give them an appointment time where they'll be there waiting for them but often times students come down and they're happy to wait they sit in our lounge and if it's a free period obviously they're allowed to wait for the counselor to see if they become available um if they are in an academic course we do or an elective or if they're in a course we do everything that we can to encourage them to go back to class unless it's an emergency so while we will never say you can't come down um we do encourage you to come down during that free period during launch um everything like that so that you don't miss valuable instruction um but of course if it's an emergency no rules apply and and we're available to you and if your school counselor is in a closed door meeting we have Student Assistance counselors or other counselors who are there to talk to you if that answers your question good because you're a little busy is what you're saying perfect yeah just an explanation to why sometimes they're not available no no I appreciate that so I I I while you were talking I booked my College and Career jump start hopefully everybody else will do the same so unless there are any other questions I want to thank you so much for coming out I know you do a lot during the day and and I really appreciate you're spending some time evening with us so thanks so much thanks everyone thank you uh at this time I'd like to invite uh Mike beer from FKA and Ramos uh our school business administrator to join me in our next presentation to discuss the facilities project applications that are on the agenda this evening leading us towards our uh April 2025 referendum the presentation that you're seeing on the screen uh is also posted on the the district website and really represents uh a culmination of work that has transpired over the the last year uh if not more um the the work that you see is also indicative of the feedback that we have been gathering over the the last 12 months whether it be from members of the Board of Education Administration the community whether it be through surveys whether it be through committee meetings or or just through reviews and conversations about what we're doing and where we're going so that what we see uh this evening is really a refinement of those uh conversations into projects and proposals that will hopefully make their way onto a ballot uh come April the presentation is also one that uh has been shared in two um venues so far uh at the April 28th uh board retreat the Board of Education had a preview of this presentation as we presented the most upto-date um plans at that time but we also have um since then shared the present ation with members of the referendum Community advisory committee and and in doing so uh we were able to provide them not only with the preview but also get feedback on on what they've seen so that every step of the way we are trying to make sure that we are able to share with the public the general public the same information that we've shared with the various uh stakeholder groups to ensure that everyone's receiving the same information at at appropriate times so this evening we're going to talk about the road map uh to the referendum how we start at um our our journey last year and how we will hopefully make our way through this year to April 2025 when the voters of of the school district will have a chance to vote on the proposals we also will uh have a overview by our district architect um and Architectural firm FKA Architects so that they can present their uh proposals and facility needs analysis that uh has gone into the presentation this evening Patty Ramos our uh School business administrator will also provide a financial review uh really to give everyone a sense of not only what it is that we're looking at from a facility standpoint but how that translates into dollars and cents the tax impact it has on the community and the obligations we'd be looking for um to pay this off through a uh the issuance of a bond um we also want to be able to underscore that the financial um tax impact data that we are going to provide is for illustrative purposes only as you'll hear this evening there's a lot of variables that go into the final numbers but we also recognize people want to know H how much is this going to cost me I I want to at least have an idea so we do want to be mindful of that and and uh respond accordingly and then last but not least uh as I mentioned before we've gotten a lot of feedback we've gotten a lot of questions so we do want to include some uh frequently asked questions because uh at the end of the presentation although we're not going into a lot of these details um they still remain as as burning questions and we want to make sure that we try and preempt that um those questions as much as possible and certainly speak about the next steps as we've done in the past this um presentation this evening is just the the starting point of the ongoing conversations and discussions we will have over the next several months leading up to April 2025 but we certainly want to um launch this school year off right with this presentation to keep everyone uh excited as excited really as we are for what's ahead now just as a visual once again a a Maryann McAn special this visual represents uh really our path forward to get us to the point in which we have the ability to um bring to the taxpayers a referendum proposal that is responsive to the needs of the district to the needs of the community and certainly representative of all of the goals and objectives that you've heard not only through our strategic plan but over the years so when you look at this uh road map you'll see that we started the starting point here says September no um of 2023 the truth of the matter is we've been talking about this for for years well before my arrival uh but certainly since my arrival talking about the potential and possibility to uh present to the community a large scale facilities referendum because we recognize that the facility needs of our buildings could not be accommodated simply through an annual operating budget or even through uh savings into our Capital reserves maintenance reserves or or other um permissible Reserve accounts the truth of the matter is given the the size of our district given the the breadth and depth of our needs a large scale referendum was certainly uh going to be in order so last last year uh when we brought on FKA Architects as our architect of record for the district we began a districtwide walkthrough of all the buildings in this District that means we went from basement to roofs we went from inside to outside opening up every door in every classroom to see what's inside uh kind of scary to find what we saw but also very eye opening and important to to recognize um both the needs and opportunities that were presented to us and as that was ongoing over the course of the year um we can't forget that in October of 2023 as a board of education as a an Administration and as a community we approved the development of a 2023 2028 a 5year strategic plan that highlighted our goals and and objectives for the next 5 years and included in those um goals and objectives was a very clear goal around finance and Facilities making sure that we were not only projecting out our needs planning for that but also explicitly committing to putting forth this referendum so um everything that you see represented this evening is also uh commensurate with the goals and objectives uh of our strategic plan over the course of the year the facility and program needs uh continued through the spring at which time our Architects then Consolidated those needs into a plan and a presentation of everything um we also reached out to our community invited anyone who was interested to join us as members of a community advisory committee so that they too could participate and have their voice heard uh as we develop and review these uh proposals in order to ensure that they are responsive to the needs of our uh communities not just based upon what the administration thinks or the board thinks or just any particular um individual stakeholder group but recognizing that as a school Community the diverse voices uh would would want to be represented so in soliciting volunteers we ask anyone who is interested if you're able to join us for those three meetings we'd love to have you and the resulting committee uh consisted of over 60 members of our community who signed up over the course of the three meetings we probably had anywhere between uh 40 to 60 members show uh which really uh contributed to the richness of the discussions and the Breakout groups but added to the uh the feedback that has uh resulted in what you see this evening so in May and June we had those Community advisory meetings and then in June we also uh launched our thought Exchange in order to crowdsource the feedback from our community about what our priority should be as we continue to pair down our proposals over the summer the architect the administration considered all the feedback that we received also used the opportunity to take the plans and reviewed with our school level and Department level uh administrators each of the site plans to determine what exactly we needed what exactly we were going to use each of these spaces for and what we were missing or what was not necessary given all the needs and all the wants of the district we recognize that we couldn't do it all so this represent this uh proposal truly represents the needs of our district based upon the feedback and based upon the priorities as I've described so that through the summer into August um the proposals that were uh initially developed in in the spring were paired down to the presentations that you see this evening as I mentioned on August 28th the Board of Education received uh a preview of these proposals as did the advisory committee meeting um that took place last Monday all of that brings us to where we are this evening this evening we are going to not only hear about the presentations but the board of education has the opportunity now to vote on these projects and I want to be clear that the vote on the projects is a step on the path to the referendum it does not represent the final decisions about what's going into the referendum but in order to consider any project for a public vote the New Jersey Department of Education requires that we submit our project applications to the state for their review for their approval and also for their ability to calculate any Debt Service Aid that would uh that our projects would be eligible for and thus help inform our fiscal liabilities and responsibilities for uh bringing these projects to fruition it's also important to note as you'll probably hear multiple times this evening that our proposals as they are presented to the uh State Department of Education if they do not obligate us to um put them forth as a referendum question they do still afford US the opportunity to down the road um launch these through any other uh means so if we do choose not to include all of these proposals and we choose to reserve some of these projects um for use through Capital uh Reserve expenditures or other maintenance expenditures we would have the ability to do that and also through the New Jersey Department of education's review and approval of those applications that just means that we have one less step that we'd have to go through to make those things happen so again just to reiterate this evening's vote is to approve the submission of the projects that you're going to see this evening to the Department of Education for their review for their approval and for their calculation of Debt Service Aid which as you see in January 2025 we hope to have those that feedback back we we certainly expect to have it so that in by February we'll be able to make those final determinations about what would constitute our April 2025 referendum proposal what questions how many questions what would be consisted uh what each of those questions would consist of and also the fiscal implications the final fiscal implications that we would be able to calculate now with all of the data that we have available to us uh based upon the feedback of the Department of Education and then certainly with that those final determinations made um that would bring us into a very busy uh late winter early spring where we would engage in a very um comprehensive and exhaustive both physically and information wise um information campaign to make sure that our our community is fully informed about what it is that we are presenting for their their consideration it's also important to note that what you don't see here in a referendum road map is what we are also doing as a school district is continuing to run the school district which by the way means that during this entire time we also have to build a budget and we also have to prepare for our annual uh operating budget that is also going to be developed in the fall presented and considered um in the winter and then presented into the uh the spring whether it be through a board approval and or a community approval for any uh items that may exceed the tax levy uh and therefore require an additional funding proposal so a lot of moving Parts all intended to focus on the same um the same area which is improving our school districts uh opportunities to enhance the educational experiences for students and certainly prepare us to um be future ready and in any way shape and form that the um the educational landscape evolves so real quick I just want to highlight some of the feedback that we received through uh our community advisory committees and through the feedback that we received from uh our community thought exchange over the first two meetings you'll see here some of the feedback that that took place um in the various uh activities that our community engaged in really highlighted some common themes those themes may be surprising to you may not be surprising to you but you'll notice that full day kindergarten uh certainly was prominent as as a theme that had come up uh on many occasions we also talked about making sure that our schools and our school buildings were accessible for both students and staff in the community we also wanted to make sure that in all these proposals we talk about the expansion of space in order to accommodate program but the esto observation is well then how are we going to fill those programs where there's going to have to be a need and a consideration for additional Staffing which is absolutely uh going to be uh part of the proposals moving forward but there again lies the difference between a regular operating budget and additional funding proposals versus a a referendum referendum will will handle the capital and and uh building expenses there's also common themes regarding just the acknowledgment that our facilities are in serious needs of repair in order to make sure that we keep up with our aging facilities we need to make sure that we take the time to invest in our um facilities so that we can ensure that our facilities are updated safe modern and functional in the next uh advisory committee meeting in in June we continue to unpack some of the feedback we continue to digest and reflect on some of the conversation that had happened but again continue and ask people based upon what you heard last time and what you've started to think about what what else are um are you thinking about what what are we missing what do we need to focus on so once again um the focus on not just full day kindergarten uh but also recognizing that the infrastructure our uh heating ventilation and air conditioning systems our uh bathrooms Plumbing technology security all of those things represent needs that our buildings um are calling for in order to ensure that we take care of things that may have not received the attention that they needed as of late but certainly will require attention uh in the not too distant future so often times people ask well what happens if we don't do this now well unfortunately our heaters um don't necessarily want to listen uh sometimes the the the Aging uh facilities don't want to listen and things start to break and no matter what we are still obligated to fix those we are still obligated to provide safe uh and secure and healthy learning environments for students so this is our way to be more proactive in addressing them rather than waiting for uh things to break and then a scrambling to to address them also with regards to full day kindergarten the the conversation dug deeper into what options we had and really through the conversations the discussions um always ended on a focus on full day kindergarten through a neighborhood school's model So currently we have a Early Learning Center in Lincoln uh Elementary School that houses our prek and and our half day um kindergarten program um the options to consider expansion really ranged from looking at how we can potentially use existing spaces whether we can we expand um Lincoln can we uh add on perhaps to the Intermediate School to alleviate some of the spaces at the elementary schools to move uh kindergarten over or can we look at creating neighborhood model schools for our elementary students in grades K through five and and through the feedback that we received that uh was the the predominant um theme that came out that that was the desirable model uh for a variety of of educational reasons uh for resource consolidation reasons and also just keeping in mind the the fewer transitions that our students would have to have as they progress through our grade levels we also look at um the accessibility and opportunities to support our students uh with disabilities to ensure that they have um the ability to continue to uh maintain their Educational Learning experiences in District uh whenever possible and and seeing that as a priority among all the things that you've seen on these two slides factored into much of the decisionmaking that you'll uh see in the um subsequent slides and then last but not least we had our our uh thought exchange our thought exchange was that crowds sourcing um proposal that we asked anyone to to uh ch in on and really answer a simple question what are some things you would most like to see in a facilities referendum in order to support the sex success of our students recognizing that any any uh word that you choose there may mean something different to different people so we want to make sure that when we use thought exchange it affords people the opportunity not only to to share their thoughts but also to give feedback as to whether or not they agree or or uh not the uh thoughts that other people um rate as well so in do doing so we have the ability to again get feedback multiply that feedback based upon the ratings and not surprising you start to see those uh similar themes arise again safe clean and modern environments refreshing our bathrooms and our schools improving indoor air quality providing dedicated um classrooms for music and art instruction once again providing safe and accessible schools and no surprise uh full day kindergarten the themes that you see represented here is just uh an indicator of when we ask for feedback sometimes a feedback is uh as at a time when things are um steady nothing nothing has sort of uh erupted that has uh prompted any any eyebrows trade and then there are other times where we may have have a a roof leaking or we may have a mold show up in a classroom and that becomes top of mind so when we look at the data we we are mindful of the current context we're mindful of what you see on the left versus what you see on the right what you see on the left represents the feedback and the word cloud that's generated when certain words appear in comments in in in the larger the um the words the the greater number of comments that those words appeared in whereas when you look at the one on the right that shows the rating of the words uh in the thoughts so when thoughts are rated and those rated uh thoughts range from one to five you have the ability to then measure the the value of those thoughts based upon um the ratings of others so when you look at the number of uh comments on the left you see that at the time uh mold and leaking roofs were were concerned when you look at that same data but how people and and mass were raing those thoughts we see again space kindergarten facilities even Fields make their way into um the priority list here as you'll hear both tonight and in the in the months uh ahead we can't do everything we will do all of our best to try and re uh address everything we can but we will look at all the resources and opportunities we have to do so the referendum is just one we've mentioned the operating budget and the various Reserve options uh as other resources so we look forward to continuing to highlight how we are ex um exercising all of those options available to us so that everyone can see the the growth and the improvements that are taking place so at this time I'd like to invite Mike beeri to join us in uh continuing the presentation and walking us through his facilities analysis as he and his colleagues uh conducted over the last uh 10 to 12 months thank you Dr Gonzalez good evening everyone okay the facilities analysis that we had prepared was broken down into two areas one is the facility needs and one is the space needs facility needs cover what what need to be done to a building to provide the modern improvements and you can see the list here of the items that were identified in this proposal the top one being HVAC improvements so this includes classroom air conditioning throughout and air conditioning in the intermediate and high school gyms uh major spaces as well as a building management system that would be installed in conjunction with all of that work it also includes renovations to the original or old restrooms throughout out the buildings for accessibility and monitored finishes it includes a repurposing of the intermediate and high school locker rooms and renovating those spaces for better use it includes Media Center Renovations at the intermediate and high school levels and the renovation of the auditorium at Westfield High School so I'll just show you on the next slide some examples of of some of the improvements this is a typical unit ventilat later in a classroom this one happens to be in Roosevelt many of these the this is this is common throughout the schools in the district they all the classrooms have a unit ventilator that is the primary heat source and ventilation source of the classroom many of them are 50 60 original years old so this project would replace those with a new and modern unit that would also provide air conditioning increased energy efficiency and increased filtration capability in the major spaces gymnasium you can see in this is slide in the ceiling is the heating and ventilating units which are original to the building this is happens to be a shot of Edison um those Heating and ventilating units would be replaced with a ducted system that would be installed in between the the roof structure in conjunction with a pair of rooftop units that would provide heating ventilation and air conditioning to the major spaces the reason for the two units is for redundancy of the system again these units much more efficient than what you've had before and also have the capability of increased enhanced fil filtration restrooms throughout the district some are original some are very old these would be renovated to provide new modern durable finishes and also accessibility to those spaces this is a picture of locker room at Edison in both intermediate schools and the high school there's a lot of space within the locker rooms that is just underutilized or not utilized anymore so you can see some of the pictures here this is Roosevelt old shower areas being used as storage because they're not used anymore more showers lockers at the high school also being used for storage so these are some examples of of intermediate and high school type lockers for for other projects that were done so these these rooms would be renovated for modern locker rooms and reconfigured for at the high school level uh both uh PE lockers and team Locker space at the intermediate schools and the high schools Media Center Renovations are also included this would renovate these old media centers into something like this that is new and modern bright durable finishes flexibility of the furnishings and also the arrangement of the room room so that it promotes different uses throughout the space so you could have group projects you could have individual study you could also have areas that that work with for additional space for students for Block scheduling so those are just some examples of uh what today's media centers look like and of course the auditorium at the high school would be renovated for new finishes modern Sound audio lighting and seating and accessibility these are some examples of modern High School auditoriums kindergarten renovation so in in several of the schools when we show you the work that happens at each school you'll see some classrooms being renovated these are the classrooms with the restroom inside them that can be converted to the kindergarten this happens to be an example of one which could be renovated into a new modern kindergarten with bright finishes accessible furniture and durability so the space needs highlights are listed here at the elementary level art music was important to H to have space for at each School small group instruction space for each school was was severely lacking or being conducted in a space that really shouldn't be used for small group instruction Support Services in each School space for for staff to come to each school to have a home instead of having to travel between buildings space for increasing enrollments expansion of the special education program at the high school and of course the full day kindergarten neighborhood model at each school so the next slides will show each school and the proposed improvements that each School to accommodate the space needs and renovation needs so this is Franklin in addition at Franklin would would be located in the current black top playground area in between the wings of the building shown in blue above and the playground area here would be relocated to the field area across from the ball field also at Franklin a drop off Loop would be constructed in on the side of the building which would also include accessible ramp ways to the front entrance so here's a floor plan of Franklin it's a little hard to see maybe in the in the slide here but the light blue indicates a renovated space in the existing building and the dark blue indicates new construction so here you can see the floor plan of the new construction that happens in between the two wings of the school and and this includes space for the kindergarten expanded multi-purpose room to accommodate the increased enrollment because this is one of the larger schools in the district it includes guidance space for the small groups and you can see a better depiction of the drop off uh loop here second floor of Franklin this is a two-story Edition so you can see the second floor here which has ADD classroom and small group instruction space as well as the renovation of the existing restrooms this is Jefferson the addition at Jefferson would happen in the sort of Notch of the vshape of the building that would be the primary area where the classrooms would be and then be a second addition to this building that would include a multi-purpose room towards the top of the slide so here's the floor plan of that you can see the multi-purpose room adjacent to the existing one for the increased capacity of the school one of the challenges with this school was to re refr the main office on the main entrance so right now there's a storage room and Conference Room between when you walk into the building and the main office so this proposal would re renovate the main office so now the main office would look out at that front front lobby you can see the v-shaped addition in in the notch of the existing building there which contains the required classrooms and small group instructional space um I'll note on this this addition does include five additional classrooms for the increased enrollment in this area it also includes renovation of existing classrooms within the building you can see on the lower on Lower Side of the left wing there there's five classrooms that are being renovated they they happen to be classrooms that already have a bathroom and are large enough to accommodate the state required size of kindergarten classroom so those five classrooms are slated to be renovated Mckinley school has an addition to the right side this would be a three-story Edition which would align with the three stories of the school le the Media Center level and on the ground floor of the addition this this school like McKinley had I mean like Jefferson had has a main office problem the main office in McKinley is on the on the first floor and order to get into it you have to enter the building from a stair which allows some a visitor access to the entire building before being checked into the main office so the question was how could we solve that problem so that problem is solved by by moving the main office to the ground floor so that when somebody enters the building they enter immediately adjacent to the main office so the new addition would have the main office on the ground floor adjacent to that would be the nurse's office which in current McKinley shares adjacent space to the existing undersized main office so also on the ground floor level we have an lld kindergarten and the two classroom that are in the ground floor level that existing would be renovated into art and music so it is a three-story Edition so the Second Story would which is the first floor would include the kindergarten classrooms and it would also renovate the old main office and principal's office into some small group instructional space and then there'd be a third floor for this Edition which would house the classrooms that were displaced by the two on the ground floor and one for the nurses on the ground floor so that's McKinley tamis was a very straightforward Edition this is a two-story a two-story classroom wing on the front of the building so the proposed Edition would be a single story on the back kind of mirroring the two-story in the front and this single story Edition would be designed so that it could accommodate a second floor in the future if if there were ever future plans for expansion so this single story Edition at tamaka simply runs a corridor at parallel with the existing building to house the additional kindergarten classrooms and some small group instructional space on the second floor we have some restrooms being renovated Washington school has in addition towards the end of the shorter wing and because we're expanding into what's now a playground in that area the playground would be relocated um we're showing that happening at the upper right corner of the screen in a grass area that exists there now so this is the floor plan like Jefferson we have some oversized classrooms here that we're renovating into kindergarten classrooms then the addition towards the top of the plan has the the required classroom small group instructional space and an art and music classroom in there to the right side of the plan there's an existing large space that's being used for small group instruction that's just subdivided with Furniture partitions that would also be renovated to provide proper small group instructional space at Wilson the site is severely limited for an addition so the concept for Wilson was to relocate five classrooms that are shown as renovated space here these are the five special education classrooms they would be relocated into Washington School which would free up space in inside of Wilson school to be able to accommodate the kindergarten classrooms that are needed in Wilson also restroom Renovations and a conversion of a second floor classroom to two lld spaces at Edison and Roosevelt there are no additions planned they're both renovation projects so you can see on the right side of the plan is the gymnasium and the two the two areas in blue are the current boys and girls locker rooms so the locker rooms would be renovated and Consolidated to one side of the gym the other side of the gym would be small group instruction in classroom space again Renovations of the restrooms and then the media center on the second floor Roosevelt starting with the gym just like Edison were re renovating and reconsolidating the locker rooms to one side and renovating classroom and small group onto the other side and of course the media center and restrooms on the first second and third floors at the high school an addition is proposed for the front of the building shown in blue also at the high school a drop off Loop is is shown in the front which would connect the three entrances to the building the auditorium the main entry and the gym and would make those accessible here you can see the plan the floor plan of the high school and I'll start in the middle in the middle of the high school right now is the wood shop which has uh difficulty being in the middle of the plan in terms of deliveries to the space and function so the concept here was to locate the required additional space for Support Services right adjacent to the existing guidance area which is currently in that location so the the current wood shop would be re would be renovated into those those support spaces and then a new wood shop would be constructed in the addition to towards the bottom left of the screen so the new addition would also in include uh not only the wood shop but it would also include life skills in an MD classroom and autism program out there in the front of the building on either side of the gym the locker rooms would be renovated so that there's appropriate space for PE and team lockers and the trainer all on ground level so right now the current boys locker room spans two floors it's on the the ground floor and the second floor the trainer is also on the second floor which um creates an obvious problem for accessibility also on this floor we have the renovation of the auditorium and then on the second floor we have the renovation of the media center and then in the in the lower left area the second floor of the boys locker room would be renovated into small group instructional space and finally at the high school renovation of restrooms on all floors okay so this is this is the projected projected costs broken down by the facility needs and the space needs um I guess you can see this closer on your screen I'm going to come closer so I can read it so the the total of the facility needs um summary is about a little over $98 million the total of space needs is $127,800 which makes a total of $225,900 th000 okay I think this is where I jump in to the presentation now so on that pricing sheet uh we have broken it out even further with the space needs we broke out the space needs versus full day kindergarten and you'll also see see on there the hbac needs Building Systems versus accessibility which is the renovation of the restrooms and then educational adequacy would which would be the renovation of the media center and the auditorium so all of that is broken out and it is on the website for anyone who wants to look at it um so now we'll go into the financial recap as Dr Gonzalez had mentioned earlier we do have to go to a bond referendum for this because of the size of the cost we would not ever be able to build this into our 2% tax levy cap the the size of the projects are too large I will say that during this process uh we met FKA Architects Mike be Dr Weissman Dr Bolton and myself this summer met with every principal and we initially had the projects coming out to about 2 $270 million and we were able to go through with the principal's every classroom every space and scale some of it back and then also added on based on our advisory committee meetings we added in the renovation of the bathrooms throughout the district because that was something that came up in each meeting and also came up in our community groups so we wanted to make sure that was addressed so again a bond referendum is something that districts have to do we have to go out to the public just as we do with our our second question work our question for our regular budget to go over the 2% we also have to do one for any bond referendum which would be a would would probably be a 30-year Bond we would look to do for this because of the amount of it so Debt Service like Ry said we're sending all of these projects down to the state to see how much debt service the state will give us the debt service offsets the bonds they pay each year off of that so we have to issue the full amount of the bonds and then the state will give us a percentage of that funding back if we choose not to do some of these projects it's important to note we will not receive that Debt Service Aid if we pay for these projects through capital reserve any other funding within this our our own budget we lose that 40% and The Debt Service Aid is calculated as 40% of building Renovations at cost so everything that you saw there with the bathrooms it'll be 40% of cost for new construction which is our additions for kindergarten and our space needs it's 40% of $138 for adequacy so the state first has to determine if they think that we need the space if they think we need the space they came up with $138 per square foot is the cost of construction many many many years ago and they've never changed it so it comes out to be about $55 that they would get give us per square foot the actual cost of construction right now is about $700 a square foot so as you can see there there will be a big difference between the two the reason that we're sending all of the projects down is we do believe a large most of our renovation if not all of it will receive the full 40% of funding but we are taking conservative approach as you'll see on the next slide when we go through our debt service and our projections because we don't know how much we're going to get until it comes back in January and right now Debt Service is its own Fund in for accounting purposes we have the general fund which is our 2% Levy cap and then Debt Service is its own fund that's not voted on each year because it's already voted on through a referendum so to give you an example of how Debt Service Aid Works in this year's budget in the 2425 operating budget The Debt Service tax levy is $1.9 million and The Debt Service Aid is $7 77,000 the two of them together combine to how much we owe in principal and interest this year on our bonds which which then The Debt Service Aid that we received this year equates to 29% of those projects from the past so just to give you an idea of how it'll look each year and the state gives us that Debt Service Aid amount each year over the course of the bond so if we issue the bonds for 30 years we'll have that aid for the next 30 Years uh the costs included in a referendum would be architect fees legal fees the bond issuance construction management fees obviously the construction costs engineering and Furniture costs to furnish all of the rooms the cost that will will not be included that will have to be included in a future operating budget would be any staff or consumables needed to operate those buildings so for instance the space needs if we're moving staff that are currently housed at central office or in other locations we'll just move those staff to the new locations there won't be a cost associated with that but for full day kindergarten we do not have Staffing for that we would move kindergarten teachers that we currently have but they only are for the part-time program we offer and we don't have a full kindergarten right now we we would anticipate the number would pretty much double if we offered full day kindergarten so I estimate right now that that cost would be somewhere between four and5 million we're still working on it but we do as Administration have a spreadsheet started we are reviewing it internally to see what items we're missing what needs to be accounted for so as we progress through this we can be very transparent with the public that there will be this referendum vote and then in two to three years there will be a vote to put the people in the buildings that we built so they will have to once again vote for that the next slide so this next slide like Ray said is just for illustrative purposes right now we had our financial analyst we we have someone that does the calculates all the bonds for us and we broke it out starting at 175 million up to the 225 million because again even if the state gives us 40% on this whole project I will still have to bond the full 225 million so for illustra purposes we took 20% of Deb service Aid because we don't know what we're getting yet the average uh home in Westfield assessed at $812,000 so you can see the average annual tax impacts and average monthly tax impacts at the bottom of the slide so if we issued bonds for 200 million the average tax impact would be $76 a month if we issued for $ 225 million it would be $83 a month again that's only assuming a 20% it's assuming an estimated interest rate of 4.5% which I spoke to our financial adviser the other day and she said rates are coming in back better now than that but she's still using that as a guide obviously everything would be finalized by the end and again we wouldn't have to issue all these bonds at the same time they would progress as the project progressed determine on the market obviously if the market goes back to 2% we'll issue the bonds we won't wait on it but if the adviser believes that there might be a benefit in waiting and issuing Bonds in pieces over the course of the project then we would do it that way we do have that flexibility as long as we don't bond more than what the total amount was another question that I've received a lot is what if you do this project and you ask us for this money and then you go out to bid and it comes in for Less I only Bond what I need the rest if this is my borrowing capability but if all the projects come in for Less I won't bond for it and if I do the money that I get would go back to the taxpayers there's no option to use it for other projects or anything else I can only use it on the bond referendum that was voted for by the taxpayers so I think that's about it so as mentioned you know through the process we've uh received common inquiries that we just captured uh a number of those FAQs in the next two slides um and I just quickly would like to run through them the first why is the district putting this facil Bond referendum before the voters I think we've already me mentioned time and time again that um this proposal really addresses the critical infrastructure needs um and and truly ensures that we are maintaining our commitment to a safe and suitable um learning environment this is something that we know we can't push off uh and down the road but we also recognize we are in a unique Financial opportunity to take advantage of debt service that would be available to us and as Patty mentioned if we don't take advantage of that for these Renovations then we are responsible for the full um 100% of the cost another question is is it all or nothing can there be one ballot question for full day kindergarten as an example and a second ballot question for other Renovations and the short answer is uh it it can be broken into multiple questions and we could as a um board and administration really uh present a proposal that gives the community um the the proper way to uh inform their decision-making so that they could make a decision that they believe is in the best interest of themselves as taxpayers but also in um in our school district so when we get the final ballot language uh in February of next year we will share that information and really uh spend a large portion of our information campaign unpacking that for everyone how is full day kindergarten going to be incorporated into the referendum as I mentioned before various options were explored but based upon the feedback that we received the determination was made to propose adding and renovating space to each elementary school so again mentioning um the existing prek K Center as well as our intermediate schools as potential opportunities for expansion uh we recognize that from a cost perspective there wasn't is a great uh advantage or benefit um but educationally the full decay in each neighborhood School certainly provided uh great educational and resource benefits to our um to our students then of course the question well if we go to full day K we have a bunch of kindergarten and Lincoln what happens to Lincoln well Lincoln is our prek K Center so by moving five uh kindergarten classrooms out of Lincoln what that affords us is the opportunity to explore renovating some of those uh vacated classroom spaces to accommodate things such as art music library and related Services as well as potentially uh expanding our prek programs if the need arises so we would certainly continue to maintain Lincoln as a um a district learning facility uh and it would house our prek program as mentioned if the full dayk proposal passes how will necessary additional staff be funded and and Patty had just mentioned that but that is certainly something we don't want to gloss over and we don't want to rush through we want to make sure that people know that if you are going to vote on a proposal to add full dayc that you understand that that proposal is a commitment in two phases one is to build or renovate the classrooms and two is a an addition to an operating budget that would then fund the Staffing so one would be referendum related and and the other would be um operating budget another common question that comes up is that's a lot of work to be done at one time how would you uh manage construction how would construction be managed to minimize the disruption to learning and certainly that uh would be something that would come way down the road as there would be many steps to get us there um that take us from board approval to community approval to then moving to uh the design bidding and construction during any development of a construction plan we would put in comprehensive um timelines and protocols to ensure that we minimize disruption to learning we look at scheduling major work during school breaks after school or during the summer months whenever possible and we look at phasing Construction in a way that allows us to ensure that safety protocols would uh protect our students and staff so that they could continue their learning activities in safe and uninterrupted environment and then last but not least what is the plan for educating the public without a doubt the district plans to educate the public through a comprehensive Outreach campaign um we are very familiar as we have experienced the last two years of public votes on our budget um in ensuring that our community forums our social media feeds our print digital and in-person opport opportunities all represent an opportunity for us as a school district to really clarify uh and answer all the questions about what it is that we are asking of the taxpayers three years ago when we decided as a as a board of education and an Administration to partner with the community in order to move our district forward that allowed the community to have a voice and a vote in the future of our school district that voice and vote will continue through uh the for seeable future for operating budget in order to manage our needs in alignment with the uh increase in cost of doing business in today's day and age but also recognizing that this facilities proposal uh far exceeds what an operating budget would be so once again that partnership is not one-sided but in fact requires that the district presents something that uh is responsive to the community's needs responsible uh from a fiscal and fiduciary fiduciary standpoint but also require as the public to agree to that uh and certainly cast a vote uh to to make the final decision so the next steps as you see listed here and as I uh had indicated earlier bring us from today all the way through April with the referendum um proposals being voted on this evening if and once approved then getting sent down to the Department of Education for their review and approval we will also use the opportunity to to use our district website to create a referendum uh portal so that that information portal will house not only this presentation but any information that we present publicly so that if you are not able to uh attend any of our presentations or watch any of our presentations you still have access to the same information that has been uh shared throughout the the winter we're also going to convene a community Communications uh Committee in order to make sure that we have the ability to uh answer as many questions as possible we want to be responsive to the needs of the community we want to anticipate as many questions as possible and in order in order to do that we want to hear from members of our community uh and in order to address their their questions and then last but not least as I mentioned over and over again hopefully by April you will all be able to recite this presentation with your eyes closed uh and in your sleep because we want to make sure that everyone knows inside and out what it is we're asking why we're asking and why it's important but most importantly that will be formalized and finalized in Fe February followed by that information campaign to accompany not only our referendum but our annual budget proposal and then ultimately voted on in April 2025 the exact date has yet to be finalized so stay tuned for that detail to come but we will certainly keep you posted so I do want to thank uh all members of our community who have contributed to this presentation this evening whether it be through your emails through your voice and committee meetings through your participation and thought exchange through your constant um engagement of our Administration our Board of Education and certainly both in person and in in the feedback that you share in any interaction that you have we hear you we are trying to do our best to respond and to provide you with the feedback that I think is representative of what our district needs um needs but certainly what our students deserve so at this time that concludes our presentation but certainly Mike Patty and I are available for any questions from the board everybody got that great um we'll start same uh same rotation go ahead CJ uh and thank you um I I wanted to thank the three speakers again this was a great presentation I had the chance to attend uh one of the community uh referendum meetings as well and it was uh really responsive to um uh the people who had gathered uh I thought there were a lot of good ideas and and I think this is a nice distillation of a lot of those ideas um the one question I wanted to ask actually is for Patty um with respect to the issuance of a bond say to pay for these are there any protocols uh in connection with uh refinancing as rates may hopefully uh adjust yes we are required by law to look at our current debt um I think it might be every three years but we look at it every year we have a company that does that for us Phoenix advisors um and if it drops to a level that would make sense we would refinance sure um thank you um I think this is in the right direction to avoid the the noise from before um I I also want to thank all three of you and uh Maryann of course and everybody who was involved this is a very comprehensive and clear and uh most importantly transparent um it's very good communication and I'm glad to see that we're sharing this with the public um I have uh just two small questions the first I I is for our architect um I just wanted to and I know we discussed this when we met last time but I was unclear what the resolution was here for the high school and the wood shop and the special education classrooms was that changed since we last met or is it still I'm I'm sorry I know you you you discussed it but I I was still a little confused how is that going to be set up now so the plan that was on the screen tonight is the same one that we had presented before with the wood shop in the lower corner and above that in in the plan are the life skills and MD rooms okay so um we'd have to look at soundproofing and things like that like we I'm just worried about all the sensory issues that could be um involved there but thank you for clarifying that I appreciate that and then also you talked about Support Services um as part of this moving to the different schools um so there would be migration of different um staff what what does support services mean what types of resources are those so that's um child study team okay so they're moving from Elm Street to the okay right so the concept was that a lot of them are in Elm Street right now and travel between the schools so a place for say two um two counselors um conference a conference space that they can act interact with uh visitors or um okay parents that that kind parents that would be provided in each of the schools so are there any other types of Support Services as well in addition to the child study team members that are are also um going to be moving into that more local model there are um so there are um it will be people that are located at Elm Street so occasionally there's behaviorists Beach OT PT that have space at our building because there's not enough space to provide them with a desk and um a file cabinet as man that is mandated by their contract under the union so they do have space at central office that they come back to to do work at they would put them in the buildings which would give them greater access to the students that they serve they wouldn't have to come back and forth at all okay and can that space be used for providing services like can PT be provided in those spaces or is that really just office space can OT can speech because right now it's kind of beg B and steal especially at the uh Elementary level so I'm just trying to understand if this is like a flexible space or if this is space that is the CST offices would be office space with a conference table but anything that would be otpt would be where they could do their services too in appropriate locations where they'd also be able to sit because now right now we do have spaces as you've probably noted throughout the district that are not appropriately sized um there's too many staff in them they're just not in an appropriate space right now to conduct the services so the goal would be to have them in the room where they could stay and do their service and how are those spaces designated on the that's those are called sgis in the presentation that you saw those are the SD s SGI small group instruction so it can be um child study team Services it could be the achieve team Services ESL Etc anything okay right they're just all called SGI small group we're not locking anything that particular in right now we're just trying to designate enough space for how many people that's why I had Dr Weissman with me with the principles when we went over that this summer to make sure that all the staff that we currently have or will need will fit somewhere in a building gotcha thank you for explaining that I apologize I know we discussed it but I I did get a little bit confused so thank you Brandon uh so Patty uh looking particularly at the state 8 component of the presentation um the numbers you put up there about what Debt Service would look like to the average household that was without Debt Service Aid correct that's with assuming a 20% Debt Service Aid okay overall because right now I got that from Phoenix advisers they said to use 20% until it's just a conservative amount until we know what what would I mean back of the envelope calculations well really back of the eyelid calculations as we're sitting here talking uh it brings us into like 21 22% in a best case scenario Soh yeah so and again there's going to be many different things that come out over the course of this referendum how many questions we have how the questions are phrased um because Renovations will be 40% we believe uh based on what we're submitting about $50 million in a best case scenario from the state yep so uh it's not often that Westfield's ever looking at $50 million in help from the that will be highlighted in every uh presentation that we do over and over again because I I do realize it will be a big ask of the taxpayers but to get that much money from the state to do it because I will have to do this work at some point during my tenure here you saw the picture that one picture of hbac unit I'd like to say that's rare it's not it it's almost every classroom yeah and Brendan's been in all of them so he went on all the tours um they're all about 60 to 7 70 years old uh Sean can tell you the weather is going to start changing now and the phone will start ringing some classrooms will be 85° others will be 65 60° it's just we we're doing the best we can and it is hard to find parts for manufactured units that the company went out of business 45 years ago yes and the same with bathrooms we dealt with leaks in bathrooms even over this Summer that were not easy to repair just because of the age of the bathrooms where the pipes are located what the pipes are made of makes it all much more complicated than it needs to be uh the new space is the shiny object to for everybody but the renovations are really going to impact every single student in every single classroom districtwide and so and our hope is if this referendum passes that we would be able to continue doing the work that we started already this year we renovated all the first grade spaces and giving them a Fresh coat of paint hiding wiring um and just new furniture and and it's been a tremendous upgrade that that just walking through and hearing the teachers their hesitation in the beginning of the summer with get doing this project and now their excitement on the space that they're in and what the ability they have with the furniture and just getting that update um so I'm hoping by this referendum passing that it'll give us that opportunity to keep doing those type of projects because there will be a lot more to do we still have a lot more internal work to do but if this if I can't fix the major like hbac and other things that are needed small group areas I'm going to have to just keep pocketing money away for those projects which is what has happened here in the past over and over again which I mean we couldn't pocket this kind of money to do this work even if we wanted to so nobody likes going to the voters multiple times it would again be kind of Peace meal it would be which is the worst building which one are we having problems with which heating system is completely going and I have to address it it that's the way it would be done it would never be done on this kind of scale where everyone would get new at the same time right and like you said 40% paid by the the state it's very rare in Westfield that you'll get any kind of Aid percentage like that MH back okay um so you touched on a point that I wanted to make sure was clear there a couple points I wanted to make sure came out just from the course of this process for all of us the first is that the referendum is part of a bigger piece right when if the ref huge part of the puzzle but it's still one piece of that puzzle having being able to put this work toward the referendum means that we can use other facets of the budget to continue making other improvements so a lot of the questions that I've gotten asked about this is well what about the things that aren't included in the referendum what about things like Fields what about things like renovation of day-to-day classrooms things of that nature these are all things that have to be done uh there is no more kicking any cans we are out of Road and out of cans you know at this point so by funding this referendum it does not mean that well we're going to forget about the other stuff it does not mean that there are not Field improvements those are going on right now thanks to you know a great staff number one and number two the you know the budget additions that we've had you know we are setting up programs to get them ready for the space that we're going to have in in large part because of the budget increases and the programming that we've done we have Capital funds that we are reserving to do some of those bigger projects like we've seen at Roosevelt this year um you know the Fab Labs the uh the um the Bandon uh the abandoned performance spaces these things are going on right now as we speak we're not waiting for a referendum we're doing what we can now but we run the risk if we don't start addressing these bigger things now of having to fold these large items into a budget and into a process that is not designed for that and never has been and it's part of the reason why we're here where we are um the other thing I want to mention is is really a thank you to the board um we talked a lot about I mean the staff and the district have put in a ton of work on this but you know this is not the first time our board has seen things like that so our board has been to uh they've walked they've done the walkthroughs with the Architects um I realize that climbing ladders is not my forte as Mike and his colleagues realize um but we've we've walked through the buildings we've seen literally the boiler rooms and and the roofs Brendan being the most Brave Among Us for the roof part um we've been to community meetings we have seen presentations of this in our you know certainly in our committee meetings um so this has been a lot of work for a long time for our board members regardless of how long we've served on it quite frankly uh and I really want to thank the board for putting as much time and effort as they have over here um because I know whatever vote we cast is a vote that the public and trust is becoming well informed uh and that it's important for us to provide the information but it's equally as important for the board to be there to receive it and that's that's what that's what we've certainly seen you know the last question I hear a lot is why now um you know the fact of the matter is if not now then when right you know we think of construction projects in four and five and six year terms but four and five and six year terms is someone's entire High School career is someone's entire Middle School career is an elementary school career and every year we put this off you know the the the effect is a butterfly effect of sorts right we lose one year now it isn't it's not just one year of students that doesn't get to see this stuff it's potentially a generation of students that don't get to see it and we've done that for too long you know we've done that for way way too long you know every year we wait is you know puts another group of kids seeing this stuff at their reunion you know not on the first day of school and we don't want to be there so um Ray talked about selling things this is my this will be the first of many uh sales pitches that I give on this as well um because it's a project I know this this board very much believes in it's worked through and I want to thank everyone for this time all right and thank you all for for being here Mike and team have been at a lot of long meetings and a lot of late nights uh and you know we have a lot of trust in and what you guys have put together so thank you so much thank you thank you all okay um so next um we made him wait a while um so uh now it's time for the report from our high school student representative uh James the floor is yours good evening my name is James fur and I am excited to serve as this year's student representative on the board of education I'm currently a senior at Westfield High School where the where I have the honor of serving as Student Government vice president of communications co-president of the community service Club co-president of the National Honor Society vice president of the Spanish club a transition leader and I'm on the track team I I feel that immersing myself in my school through activities and clubs will help me accurately represent the student body's interests at these meetings this year when students returned to Westfield High School they got a glimpse of some of the traditions and attributes that make the school so special on September 4th the class of 2028 was officially welcomed to the high school during their freshman orientation after listening to speeches from both the sgaa president Luke Renshaw and the school's principal maryus vendis Upper classman from both the National Honor Society and the school's trans program gave the Freshman a very informative and detailed tour of the high school the goal of this event was to help the incoming freshman feel welcomed and safe in our school as well as giving them a chance to meet students they may not have previously known despite school starting just a few weeks ago our community here at whs has jumped right into the full swing of things heai will be releasing the first edition of their award-winning student paper this Friday and our school's morning news station Blue Devil TV began their fourth season although many great constants in Westfield High School remains some significant changes have been made since last year we have two new assistant principles former social studies teacher Brett Curtis and former Edison assistant principal jacquel and spring who are hitting the ground running with new ideas to improve the whhs community additionally Westfield's Athletic program is off to a strong start we have out welcomed a new head football coach Matthew anzel who is hoping to lead the Blue Devils to a great season after a big win against Elizabeth last Saturday at home Westfield is always extremely enthusiastic for our sports teams and while there have only been a few weeks of games our student section has been showing up non-stop ready to show their support senior journalism students have also been reporting on VAR City games for high ey Sports along with coverage from our Instagram page dubfield Athletics which posts game locations times themes and postgame results with the start of the school year also comes the return of dozens of school sanctioned clubs led by our student body one of sga's top priorities this year is to streamline the club system to ensure that clubs can make the biggest impact possible in our community there will be a meeting this Thursday September 19th with leaders from each club to go over the guidelines for clubs the school year as well as expectations for back to school night and Club day we will be generating a list of all the current clubs available at our school as well as posting it to the w whs website next Thursday September 28th will be back to school night clubs sports teams and other organizations can reserve a table in cafeteria B for back to school night there they can sell merchandise and food to generate funds to be used for their or organization back to school night is a great way to get their clubs out in front of students and parents and is a historically worthwhile opportunity for clubs to fundraise and self-promote the next day Friday September 29th will be the annual whs Club day during all lunch periods 4: through 8 clubs will be in the Dr Nelson Courtyard with posters and other information about their clubs this is a great opportunity for freshmen to get involved in the school it is so important for them to understand whs for all of its great aspects including the many clubs for people of all interests throughout the year SG sgaa has hopes to raise school spirit for all grades frequently throughout the year there will be spirit days in which students dress up according to a theme last Wednesday our school honored the lives lost on 9911 23 years ago we gave out Beed beaded necklaces in our country's colors to honor and remember the sacrifices all of the brave men and women made to help others on such a horrific day another means of raising school spirit and strengthening our school Community is through monthly activity periods last thur was our first activity period through an extended Home Room this activity period allowed students to hear from Administration all the guidelines and procedures that the school has as well as changes that are being made next month's activity period will be run by the sgaa for our annual student versus staff volleyball game to help raise money for breast cancer awareness students will compete in their own tournament to determine which two teams will be lucky enough to play against the teachers students not playing will either be watching from the gym or in their home rooms live streamed through bdtv students watching V live stream will be decorating their classroom doors to promote breast cancer awareness as well sgaa will judge the doors and the top three winning home rooms will receive a bagel breakfast overall the school has been filled with energy and excitement in anticipation for another great school year we cannot wait to see all that whs will accomplished over the course of this year thank you thank you James much appreciated um let's move next to our board committee reports we'll start with uh curriculum instruction and assess son uh the Sip committee met on September 9th and began its first meeting with a review of this year's schedule of meetings this year's meeting similar to last year's will each contain a program presentation that will provide the committee with a detailed overview of instructional programs within the district the committee heard a presentation from visual Performing Arts supervisor sha o Longo on the various components and the Arts programs in the Westfield schools Mrs Longo highlighted the creation of a common vision for the vpa Department recent enhancements to the district art show and the development of connections between the Westfield public school vpa department and the broader Westfield Community Mrs Longo is excited about the future development of new electives for music classes at the intermediate schools and the possible expansion of honors and dual enrollment enrollment courses in the Arts the committee reviewed two policies 52000 attendance and 2365 a I the attendance poly reflects changes made to the definition of parent which includes a more comprehensive definition and changes to the regulation for Approved absences by the Department of Education for student attendance at Civics events changes to the regulation also provide guidance to school administrators for responding to students who engage in extended and consecutive unexcused absences from school the artificial attendance policy is recommended by Strauss Esme for adoption this policy provides the district with guidance on critical components when constructing a more comprehensive AI plan the committee conducted the annual annual review of The District's professional development and mentoring plans which align closely with the various goals within the Strategic plan finally the committee approved a change to the tuition for the summer geometry course from $400 to $700 per student this change reflects increases in compensation for instructors and comparative costs charged by surrounding districts offering the same summer course thank you any questions excellent uh move to uh finance and Facilities brandan so the finance and Facilities committee met on Friday uh many items were discussed uh mostly referendum but we also talked ongoing projects the roofs at Edison and tacas the capping has been redone solar panels have been reinstalled at tacis and are input progress at Edison uh to prevent the same issue from happening in the future the roofing company put down extra material under each of the solar panels so that holes aren't punched in the new roof uh at tacis uh they did install drop ceilings in three classrooms that had the most water damage uh the tiles that were up there could not be found and replaced uh so instead of painting water damage tiles they install the drop ceiling uh at Roosevelt Phase 2 is is nearing completion the steel beams have been installed the classrooms are reopened uh there again there was water issues in one classroom uh though and it's been resolved um the decorative work on the outside including the gfrc panels will be installed over the fall and the scaffolding will be moved to phase three which we expect to begin in the spring uh Additionally the district has purchased two school buses uh they were part of the budget approved last year by the voters uh they we expect them to be delivered in the late spring uh they're 56 passenger and they're air conditioned with seat bels uh the Fab Lab at Roosevelt uh work is ongoing but I believe the classroom is open for use uh so the work is ongoing at night uh with lighting and cealing work happening after hours uh classroom 123 uh was a room that we're breaking up into small group rooms and that is ongoing and nearing construction as well or nearing completion it should be done sometime in October But the rooms are being used again before that uh as we're just talking about field drub uh we are sorry we're purchasing new softball batting cages for the high school softball team uh purchase order was done this week we'll have an installation date as soon as we have a better timer on delivery and the varsity's baseball field will be renovated the same way that the the softball field was done with the same company so the infield will be reconditioned uh The Outfield will be have any drainage issues addressed by the same company that did the softball field here across the parking lot which came out beautiful let's see what else am I missing here and on tonight's agenda I just want to highlight several of the several items that we're going to be asking everybody to approve uh items G through oh is uh a submission to the state for the alterations Renovations and additions that we discussed on the in the presentation each school is called out separately uh first with the submission of the project plans uh to the State Department of Education and then an amendment to our district long range facilities plan item p is then submitting that long range facilities plan to the state and item R is uh a resolution hire authorizing Patty's office to hire a public relations firm Laura Bishop Communications to help us with the public relations aspect of getting this Bond approved uh as we all understand this is a massive project and getting making sure that everybody in town has all the information before we ask them to vote in April is key and hiring a firm that does it professionally made more sense than asking already tax staff to take on another massive project so on that if there are any questions I'm happy to all right thank you very much uh next policies personnel and governance Lea um the PPG committee met on September 11th our first order of business was to set the monthly meeting schedule for the 20242 school year additionally we reviewed the policy alert from Strauss Esme the committee is recommending um several policies and regulations for a reading tonight under item um a on the agenda uh the majority of these policies have been revised to be aligned with state code and federal policy um board member number and term is revised um again this has to do with uh reformatting um code changes in alignment and uh vacancy depending upon the proximity to election um policy um and regulation involving uh physical examination is revised uh due to the New Jersey um office of Health guidance regarding tuberculosis testing uh service animals um is revised the policy um to align with the federal policy which requires uh such permission along with the Americans of Disability Act uh we have the firearms and weapons um policy as well uh which basically is stating that um individuals with disabilities need to be able to fully participate in drills and plans and procedures need to reflect necessary accommodations for that to happen um again policy and regulation um uh 8467 which is also Firearms um and weapons is revised for alignment uh and then the final policy um pertains to volunteer athletic coaches and co-curricular activity advisers and assistance um having to do with the screening for tuberculosis so those will be on the agenda for first reading tonight uh additionally we we reviewed possible policy discussion topics for the year based upon board member community and administrative feedback including um uh board member use of social networks um cell phone usage in schools um uh the homework policy um with regards to the policy policy 822 um 0 which has to do with the school year uh the superintendent's duties um and evaluation of the superintendent um and we also discussed um School Safety and Security um as again possible uh policy discussion topics for the year uh possible Personnel topics for for the year were also discussed again based upon feedback from the board community and administration the committee will receive presentations and updates throughout the year on the following topics job description organization chart and Title Nine um possible governance topics for the year that we discussed uh were I identifying and understanding the New Jersey Department of Education required reports used to monitor school districts Dr Gonzalez um Pres on several of those this evening um and review the board self-evaluation process and board goals um as usual our agenda and is listed on the board portal for our board members and our next meeting is scheduled for 1010 yes sure go ahead CJ quick question uh thank you yeah just uh I appreciate that summary and and and I know I haven't really had the chance to discuss um uh some of these um policy initiatives with the policy committee but I just wanted to throw out one idea which is I know we're looking at um 2365 about acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence you know generative AI uh and I know this may be part of you know kind of a Statewide you know policy suggestion uh as to what it might look like but I just wanted to throw out the idea that there may be other types of AI other than generative AI uh I I wouldn't want to I there's some aspects of this um uh policy initiative here that uh kind of Encompass AI tools generally whereas others talk about generative AI by itself so I just want to throw out the idea that maybe you know we look to or talk about um uh you know expanding the number of AI Technologies from just gener just uh generative uh but that's it thank you that was the policy by sip correct okay excellent okay with the uh committee reports complete uh we will now move to the opportunity to recognize public this is on agenda action items only during this portion of the meeting District residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on agenda action items only those are the items listed in letters and numbers on the uh the current agenda as a courtesy allow current students and staff of the westfi public schools to speak first board requests that individuals sign in and state their name Municipality of residents and group affiliation if applicable for the record the specific action items that they are commenting on and ask that all remarks be directed to the board president or design and not to individual members or staff the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public if a matter concerning a District staff member is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal superintendent of schools or the Board of Education either by telephone letter or email although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered please note that if any member of the public becomes dis disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participant statement continued disruptions may result in removal from the meeting or adjournment of the meeting each speaker's statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration all right seeing no one approach uh we will close the first public comment session and uh move to board action items uh first uh I'd like to make a motion to approve the August the minutes of the August 27th 2024 regular board meeting and two executive session minutes as well as the August 28th 2024 special board meeting and executive session minutes do I have a second I'll take Kent for that we can do that hopefully by a a Voice vote all in favor any opposed and extensions okay that carries uh next sonal would you mind uh moving the governance items for the agenda please sure I'd like to move item a under governance section of tonight's agenda that is to approve the 2023 2028 strategic plan year 2 activities as follows whereas the board of education has adopted a comprehensive strategic plan for the years 2023 to 2028 outlining key goals and objectives aimed at enhancing educational outcomes operational efficiency and Community engagement and whereas year one of the Strategic plan was successfully implemented establishing establishing foundational activities and indicators and whereas the activities plan for year two build upon this progress to further Advance the Strategic PL goals including but not limiting limited to deepening curriculum enhancements improving student wellness strengthening Community Partnerships and preparing for the upcoming referendum to Support Facility improvements full Daye kindergarten and other critical infrastructure needs and whereas the successful execution of these activities is crucial to achieving the district's long-term goals of providing high quality education and fostering an inclusive and supporting supportive learning environment for all students now therefore it be it resolved that the board of education do we have to vote before I read this part can I keep reading okay that the Board of Education hereby approves the activities associated with year two of the Strategic plan as outlined in the attached documentation and authorizes the superintendent and District administration to proceed with the implementation of said activities in accordance with District policies and goals can I have a second thank you Julie Patty we can have a vote Rob bonio yes Kent diamonds yes Brendan gallagan Charles jinus yes Leila melli yes Sono Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg yes Mary wickens thank thank you that carries uh Lila will you please move to the uh Personnel section of the agenda please I'd like to move um items a through wat on the um Personnel section of tonight's agenda can I have a second so do you give your comments now yes that's okay before we vote I think we have one retirement to acknowledge yes this evening we do have one uh retirement and that is for Sharon sheney contras she began her teaching career in October 1999 by splitting her time between Franklin and tamacas elementary schools dedicating her first year to teaching special education over the next 24 years she committed herself fully to tamacas teaching special education for 22 of those years years and serving on the building inrs team for the last nine her dual roles in special education and basic skills made her an invaluable team member providing targeted advice to teachers and support to parents as a staunch advocate for students Shany ensured that her IEPs were effectively implemented including the use of assisted technology devices in her final three years she transition to teaching achieve or basic skills significantly impacting first graders with her specialized college and Orton Gillingham certification highly respected by her she peers shany's contributions extended beyond the classroom to volunteering for the annual variety show and participating in the sunshine committee and representing her colleagues as a district WEA teacher representative we wish Shany all the best for a happy and healthy retirement thank you with that I think we can move to a vote Rob bacho yeah yes Kent Diamond yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles delus yes Lea melli son yes to all but I need to abstain from uh e okay sonal Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg yes Mary wickens that motion passes next finance and Facilities Kent thanks Rob uh I'd like to move items a through y under the finance session of tonight's agenda may I have a second please anyone thank you son um I'd like to highlight some donations uh first SJC lawn care for providing $3,000 worth of Labor and materials to raise the height of an existing canopy shade at Lincoln uh second uh thank you to the Franklin PTO for donating $4,375 to replace the Gaga game pit at Franklin's playground as someone has played Gaga with their kids that's important uh number three wsa Youth Soccer Association thank you to them for providing $16,669.24 ation for the Arts for donating $300 to fund the cost for all K through2 visual art teachers to attend the professional development event at the visual arts center of New Jersey in Summit on October 14th 2024 and this tally brings the year-to-date donations to $ 34,2 thank you to all that's it excellent move to a vote please rob bachio yes Kent Diamond yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus yes Leila melli yes sonel Patel yes Christen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg yes Mary wickens next back to Lila for the policy section of the agenda I'd like to move item a under the policy section of tonight's agenda do I have a second Kent no discussion Patty we move to a vote Rob bonio yes Kent Diamond yes brenen gallagan yes Charles jinus uh abstain from A2 uh and yes to the rest Lea melli yes Sono Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg yes Mary wickens uh next to sonal for instruction and assessment uh I'd like to move items a through C under the SI section of tonight's agenda can I have a second second thank you Brendan no discussion Patty Rob bonio yes Kent Diamond yes Brendan gallagan yes Charles jinus yes Lea melli yes Sono Patel yes Kristen Sonic schmeltz Julie Steinberg yes Mary wickins thank you that carries uh I'll call the board's attention to the notes for the record uh and there having been no unfinished or new business presenter for the agenda we'll move now to Liaison reports if anyone has any okay seeing then uh we'll move to the final item which is to recognize the public for uh General comments during this portion of the meeting members of the public are invited to address the board of education on any topic as a courtesy allow current students and staff of Westville public schools to speak first the board requests that individuals sign in and state their name Municipality of residents and group affiliation if applicable for the record and ask that all remarks be directed to the board president or designate not to individual board members or staff the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding Personnel matters are discouraged and cannot be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public if a matter concerning a District staff member is of Interest or concern to a resident the matter should be referred to the responsible building principal superintendent of schools or the Board of Education either by telephone letter or email although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered please note that if any member of the public becomes disruptive during the meeting the board president May terminate the participant statement continued disruptions may result in removal from the meeting or adjournment of the meeting each speaker statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration come on up for correct we're not allowed to answer we typically let the public just public comment it's not a back and forth question and answer thank you I think we'll close public session uh and request a motion to adjourn have a second second second um sonal all in favor any opposed any extensions we are adjourned